Two questions: first, where the hell are his optics- how does he see? Secondly, is the brain case in the “head” or within the torso? Looked online but couldn’t find any schematics.
Wasn’t RoboCain just like RoboCop but a different guy?
I’ve never seen a schematuic, but there’s no reason they had to put the optical sensors where human eyes would be on the “head” – they could be anywhere. Back in the Silver age one of the Superman robots used that dodge, putting his eyes in his kneecaps, while he had a lead band over his eyes.
As for where the brain was – it looked as if it was either in the “head” or the upper torso, considering where RoboCop pulled it out of.
IG – the figure referred to looked completely different from the original RoboCop:
From where Robocop ripped it out, RoboCain’s brain looked to be in the center of his upper torso.
I would imagine his optics would be somewhere in the front of his torso.
Duhdoy, I was thinking of RoboCable.
I don’t get why he needed a flat screen and a computer-rendered image of his face to express himself as opposed to, y’know, a speaker or something.
It wasn’t for him, it was for us.
Sure, but its difficult to think of a plausible ‘in universe’ explanation for it. Perhaps given that he was based on the brain of a criminal and was much more of a war-machine than Robocop the designers didn’t want him to be able to communicate through more than basic visual displays of emotion?
In addition having such a non-standard humanoidish cyborg body can’t have helped his psychological well-being, at least Robocop himself is externally at least no more than an ordinary human with armour-plating.
Which raises the question of what would happen if they stuck a human mind/brain into say a tank, would the former human be able to interface with and control it or would it be just too different to map a human mind onto?
I think the human mind is pretty adaptable. Lookit quadriplegic folks, or newly blind folks… they can adapt. (Some don’t for emotional reasaons.)
I don’t remember the movie all that well, but who is to say that it sees in the (human) visual spectrum at all? Could just be IR or UV–there are plenty of materials that appear opaque to humans but are transparent in other bands. The optics could simply be behind the “face”.
Ok, I reviewed some scenes on YouTube and: the head apparently is simply housing for the display screen- it goes quick but you can see the two front halves part and the screen rotate out. The brain does appear to be near the top of the torso accessed from behind the head. And RoboCain has built-in floodlights so it must see (at least primarily) in the visual range. RoboCain’s viewpoint is shown in a sort of flyeye grid so I was looking for something that might correspond.
Looking at that scene, it seems the computerized Cain-face isn’t necessarily standard - there are several abortive attempts at rendering before it appears, which to me kinda suggests Cain did that himself on the spur of the moment. The screen itself could useful, if RoboCain had to display recorded information to other cops, but this face effect itself might be improvised.
Well, that and he’s clearly a capricious psycho.
As much as I appreciate the attempt, I’d also caution against trying to suss out too much “logical, ‘in-universe’” details from that particular work—it was always dancing on the edge of sheer satire, even if it was pretty dry about it. It’d be like trying to figure out how and why the architects in Whoville made all the houses out of lopsided arches. All you’re going to get is a headache. 
Anyway, back to the OP—during the final fight, isn’t there a Robocain POV shot as…Lewis offers him a Nuke canister as bait? You might be able to make a guess as to where his “eyes” are positioned, as he’s standing pretty still in relationship to everyone else in the rest of that part of the scene.
It’s worth noting also that Cain’s original biological eyes were preserved, possibly because simulating an optic nerve or an optical interface generally with any accuracy remains beyond even the advanced tech of the movie’s setting.
So somewhere within the RoboCain hulk, there were eyeballs (presumably encased in gel of some kind to keep them hydrated) staring at little monitors tied to external cameras… The eyes themselves couldn’t be that far from the brain’s storage case, given the limitations of the connecting nerve tissue, so when Robocop pulled out RoboCain’s brain, it looks like the nerves tore and the eyeballs got left behind.
I tried that but he’s so tall about all you can say is that his POV is somewhere above his waist.
“Hey! My eyes are up here!”
“BEHAVE YOURSELF!” 
Funniest part of the movie. The Old Man is giving a speech about Delta City and RoboCain is trying to get at the Nuke canister like some uncooperative circus lion.
Good point, maybe linking up to a cybernetic body, even an inhuman one would be something some people would actively desire.
That reminds me of an episode from the anime Ghost in the Shell where a young man with a crippling disease has his brain emplaced in a new state of the art tank and goes on a rampage to apparently avenge himself against his parents who wouldn’t let him have cybernetics for religious reasons. Good episode and great series.
Great, now RoboCain is even creepier than before!
Isn’t that scene slightly different? The Old Man roars, “Behave yourselves!” at Robocop and Robocain while they are tearing the theatre apart in a little one on one combat, it is a good scene and good line though…I do think that while nowhere near as good as the original Robocop 2 has an unfair reputation. Its watchable enough and has some good scenes, Robocop/Murphy pretending to reject his wife because he is forced to realise he can no longer be a husband to her, for one.
I rewatched several YouTube clips and I noticed something I hadn’t before: Robocain’s head tilts and swivels to match his viewpoint, so although they aren’t obvious at all the optics must be in the head somewhere.
If this thread was a person, it’d be just old enough to watch Robocop 2 and be permanently traumatized by it.